$\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric three-dimensional QED in the large-$N_f$ limit and applications to super-graphene

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the IR behavior of $ =1$ supersymmetric 3D QED with many fermions, revealing a stable fixed point and applying findings to super-graphene, notably predicting a significantly larger optical conductivity correction than in non-supersymmetric cases.

Contribution

It provides a detailed study of the IR fixed point in $ =1$ supersymmetric 3D QED at large $N_f$, and connects the results to super-graphene, including a novel prediction for optical conductivity correction.

Findings

IR fixed point is stable under quantum corrections.

Optical conductivity correction in super-graphene is significantly larger due to supersymmetry.

Derived the effective coupling flow and interaction correction coefficient.

Abstract

We study $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric three-dimensional Quantum Electrodynamics with $N_f$ two-component fermions. Due to the infra-red (IR) softening of the photon, $\ep$-scalar and photino propagators, the theory flows to an interacting fixed point deep in the IR, $p_E \ll e^2 N_f/8$, where $p_E$ is the euclidean momentum and $e$ the electric charge. At next-to-leading order in the $1/N_f$-expansion, we find that the flow of the dimensionless effective coupling constant $\overline{\al}$ is such that: $\overline{\al} \ra 8/\big(N_f \,(1+C/N_f)\big) \approx (8/N_f)(1-0.4317/N_f)$ where $C= 2\,(12-\pi^2)/\pi^2$. Hence, the non-trivial IR fixed point is stable with respect to quantum corrections. Various properties of the theory are explored and related via a mapping to the ones of a $\mathcal{N}=1$ model of super-graphene. In particular, we derive the interaction correction coefficient to the optical conductivity of super-graphene, $C_{\rm sg} = (12-\pi^2)/(2\pi) = 0.3391$, which is six times larger than in the non-supersymmetric case, $C_{\rm g} = (92-9\pi^2)/(18\pi) = 0.0561$.